salmon

This past weekend on the Clearwater River was still pretty warm weather wise but, many anglers hit the water in the mornings and evenings. Many anglers are off the water by 12pm. The confluence of the Clearwater and Snake Rivers, which is creel section 1 river sect. 01, is still getting the most amount of effort of the creel sections. Most people coming off the water are commenting on the ratio of unclipped vs. clipped fish. Many people are using herring and eggs for bait. Check harvest information. - Jaime Robertson Fisheries Technician, Clearwater Region

First, let me tell you what we know about the number of Chinook Salmon we are projecting to come to the Clearwater Region. Last week we had some exciting times when over a three day period over 40,000 Chinook Salmon passed over Bonneville Dam. Since then the counts have dropped back down, but that spike in numbers caused our projected non-tribal harvest share to increase to about 4,000 adult fish in the Clearwater drainage and about 6,3000 adult fish for the Rapid River run. If you recall, last week the projected harvest share was around 3,400 for the Clearwater drainage and 4,500 for the Rapid River run. At this point I am not expecting any large changes in harvest share as typically by this time around 75% of the run of fish heading to the Clearwater Region has passed over Bonneville Dam. If you are wondering how these harvest shares compare to previous years. This is very similar to what we saw in the Clearwater River basin in 2008 and 2009-2012. Last year the harvest share in the Clearwater Basin was 640 fish. So this will be a marked improvement over that. For the Rapid River run, last year the harvest share was 2,100 fish and the year before that it was 4,500 fish. As such this year will be an improvement over the previous two years. All in all, I think we are in store for a very good season.

Clearwater River Basin FisheryThe table below has about everything you need to know about adult harvest of Chinook Salmon in the Clearwater River basin, and I will update it every week for you. It shows how many fish we estimated were harvested each week and where. It shows our harvest share and how many fish are left. Finally, it shows how the public has indicated they would like the harvest share allocated to the different river reaches and how much harvest remains in each of those areas. As we get close to reaching these different target amounts you can expect the fisheries to close in those areas (or at least the adult harvest). Last week we estimated 21 adult Chinook Salmon were harvested in the Clearwater River drainage, all near Lewiston. Go to harvest data for more details.

Counts over Lower Granite Dam the last couple days were around 1,300 and 3,000 fish which is good. Flows are also looking good, so those fish should spread upriver fast. Expect the fishing to really pick up from here on out.

Rapid River FisheryWe did not see any harvest of fish last week on the Rapid River run, and as such I did not include a harvest summary table below. However, once harvest begins I will display a similar table as above for this fishery as well. I can tell you though that the first fish showed up at Rapid River Hatchery two days ago so it would surprise me if some fish are caught this weekend. Flows are looking good right now so those fish coming over Lower Granite Dam now should start being caught in a week.

Hells Canyon FisheryThe Hells Canyon fishery is often one of the first to start up. In fact, our creel crew check one adult last week and we estimated a harvest of three fish. Expect this fishery to pick up in a week as well.

Well the fishery is upon us. I hope you all are getting your gear ready as if the fish aren’t in the area you like to fish now, they should be there soon. - Joe DuPont, Clearwater Region Fishery Manager

When fishing for Chinook salmon you are allowed to keep 2 jack salmon (salmon under 24 inches) per day as long as they are hatchery fish as evidence by the heald scar on the adipose fin. Since jack salmon are sexually immature and not considered as breeding fish, why does it matter if the jack is a hatchery fish or a wild fish? It is not a breeder anyway, so why not allow the keeping of wild jack salmon?

As we are fishing the Fall 2013 season for salmon in Lewiston, we cannot keep hardly anything we catch although we are catching many many fish. It seems the Hatchery vs Native is well out of proportion. The Native fish are around 85% to 15% hatchery. Why is there such a large difference, and if IFG knew this, why can't the rules change to keep some of these Native fish? Put a limit on them so people do not abuse it, but at least we can keep some. This is the best run in decades and anglers are not able to keep hardly anything.

This weekend on the upper Salmon River, the number of anglers increased, but compared to the week before, the fishing was not as good. The best catch rate was found in section 18 where anglers averaged 11 hours per steelhead. Section 19, with a catch rate of 12 hours per steelhead was the second best, while sections 15 and 16 were at 15 and 16 hours per steelhead caught, respectively. Fishing within sections 14 and 15 was hindered by muddy water conditions due to the Deadwater ice jam breaking apart.

As of yesterday (3rd) the ice jam had receded nearly to Deadwater and most likely it will break up entirely sometime within the next few days. Anglers should use caution when fishing on, or next to, the bank ice left behind by the ice jam. This weekend, an angler fishing off of a large piece of bank ice ended up in the river when the ice collapsed and catapulted him into water 8-10 feet deep. During the next couple of weeks many more of these large blocks of bank ice will collapse into the river as they melt, and anglers should keep that in the back of their minds when choosing a safe spot to fish from. - Brent Beller, Fisheries Technician, Idaho Fish and Game

Angler effort on the upper Salmon River this past weekend was fairly similar to the previous weekend, but the catch rates were much more inconsistent between the river section.

Section 16 had the best catch rate of the weekend at 5 hours per steelhead caught, and section 17 had the second best catch rate at 9 hours per steelhead caught. The rest of the river sections (14, 15, 18, and 19) had catch rates equal to, or above, 20 hours per steelhead caught. Fishing downstream of Deadwater was hindered by poor water visibility which most likely factored into the poor catch rates observed in sections 14 and 15. Very few anglers were found fishing upstream of Ellis in section 18, and no anglers were found in section 19 during the weekend.

Boat ramps between Salmon and Red Rock are now open, but ramps between Red Rock and Deadwater are still ice affected. In section 18, the boat ramps at Watts Bridge and Cottonwood campground are closed because of ice as well. Also, as of Sunday (24th), the ice jam was approximately one mile upstream of North Fork, and it is receding. - Brent Beller, Idaho Fish & Game Fisheries Technician, Salmon Region

Catch rates were decent this week on most sections excluding the North Fork, while keep rates were not so great. We saw the most effort upstream from Orofino Bridge with 10 hours to catch a fish and 25 hours to keep a fish. - Seth Crevison. Idaho Fish & Game Fisheries Technician, Clearwater Region